If you like to enjoy your Maker's Mark with a little water, then there's good news. You won't need to add your own water anymore because the distillery will do it for you. The Kentucky distillery behind Maker's Mark is taking some of the alcohol out of their product, going from 90 proof to 84 proof. "Fact is, demand for our bourbon is exceeding our ability to make it," wrote Maker's Mark executives Rob Samuels and Bill Samuels Jr. in an email to clients.

It's really a pretty ingenious way to deal with supply and demand. If you water down your bourbon, you can make more bottles to sell, and when you've lowered the alcohol content of your bourbon, nobody will buy it anymore. Problem solved!

Maker's isn't one of my faves, so I haven't been paying too much attention to this. Here's an old magazine article by a booze writer I like, he groups bourbons into a few categories and his point is if you like A, you might like A1 or A2 as well, mo' bettah than you like B or C. There's a method to his madness.
I'm glad to see that the Maker's folks have come to their senses. Quite a bit of publicity for not much money, and everyone's happy. Win Win!

FWIW, I find myself drinking more of the Wild Turkey Rare Breed for sippin' - and mx w/Evan Williams black label (it's no longer a 7 year bourbon as it was when this was written) - by this fellow's reckoning I'm a 'spicy and peppery bourbon' fan. But when it comes to whusk, it's ALL good.

One more tidbit of info to pass along. An old, established brand whiskey recently changed owners, the old owner pretty much sold it in Kentucky and didn't try to market it out of state - the new owner will market it out of state. It's called 'Very Old Barton' - the old owner, of course, was Barton (a big distillery, most of their product is 'cut rate' liquors) The new owner is Buffalo Trace/Sazerac, and they've been gathering a pretty nice stable of bourbon brands over the past 10 years or so. Anyway - if you see Very Old Barton for sale or behind the bar, give it a try. It's always been a 'great for the money' bourbon, hard to find around here. Another one for bourbon fans who don't intend to spend $45 on an everyday whusk. A little more info below

After backlash from customers, the producer of Maker's Mark bourbon is reversing a decision to cut the amount of alcohol in bottles of its famous whiskey.

Rob Samuels, Maker's Mark's chief operating officer, said Sunday that it is restoring the alcohol volume of its product to its historic level of 45 percent, or 90 proof. Last week, it said it was lowering the amount to 42 percent, or 84 proof, because of a supply shortage.

"We've been tremendously humbled over the last week or so," Samuels, grandson of the brand's founder, said of customers' reactions.

The brand known for its square bottles sealed in red wax has struggled to keep up with demand. Distribution has been squeezed, and the brand had to curtail shipments to some overseas markets.

In a tweet Sunday, the company said to its followers: "You spoke. We listened."
The change in recipe started with a shortage of the bourbon amid an ongoing expansion of the company's operations that cost tens of millions of dollars.

Maker's Mark President Bill Samuels, the founder's son, said the company focused almost exclusively on not altering the taste of the bourbon while stretching the available product and didn't consider the emotional attachment that customers have to the brand and its composition.

Bill Samuels said the company tinkered with how much water to add and keep the taste the same for about three months before making the announcement about the change Monday. It marked the first time the bourbon brand, more than a half-century old, had altered its proof or alcohol volume.

"Our focus was on the supply problem. That led to us focusing on a solution," he said. "We got it totally wrong."

Both Bill and Rob Samuels said customer reaction was immediate. Company officials heard from "thousands and thousands of consumers" that a bourbon shortage was preferable to a change in how the spirits were made, Bill Samuels said.

"They would rather put up with the occasional supply shortage than put up with any change in their hand-made bourbon," Rob Samuels said.

The change in alcohol volume called for the recipe and process to stay the same, except for a "touch more water" to be added when the whiskey comes out of the barrel for bottling, Rob Samuels said.

When production restarts Monday, those plans are off the table, Bill Samuels said.
"We really made this decision after an enormous amount of thought, and we focused on the wrong things," he said.

Maker's Mark is owned by spirits company Beam Inc., based in Deerfield, Ill. Its other brands include Jim Beam bourbon.

Maker's Mark is made at a distillery near the small town of Loretto, 45 miles south of Louisville.

The bourbon ages in barrels for at least six summers and no longer than seven years before bottling.

Combined Kentucky bourbon and Tennessee whiskey sales from producers or suppliers to wholesalers rose 5.2 percent to 16.9 million cases last year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council, a national trade association that released figures last week. Revenue shot up 7.3 percent to $2.2 billion, it said. Premium brands, generally made in smaller batches with heftier prices, led sales and revenue gains.

Kentucky produces 95 percent of the world's bourbon supply, according to the Kentucky Distillers' Association. There are 4.9 million bourbon barrels aging in Kentucky, which outnumbers the state's population.

even they couldn't go on with the slaughter of their brand. look watering it down to 3% from its original alcohol content isn't night and day. In fact you wouldn't be able to tell unless you seen the bottle beforehand. I had a corn whiskey distiller pour 150 proof moonshine in a bottle that labeled it 80 proof. I won't say the brand, ever, but holy shit when people seen it was 80 proof it was on, then after a shot they swore up and down that wasn't the right proof. Was a great prank to pull on someone with that shit. Bottom line, label is a label, proof is in the effect.

A lot of people took the time to share their thoughts regarding our recent announcement. We always appreciate open and honest conversation about Makerís Mark and weíve gotten plenty of feedback, both supportive and otherwise. Because there are so many comments, itís hard for an old guy like me to respond, particularly 140 characters at a time. Now that Iíve had time to compose my thoughts, please allow me to try to answer most of the questions weíre hearing.

And by the way, I asked Rob if I could write this response since many people have wondered if Iím on board with the decision to lower the alcohol-by-volume (ABV) level. I am, and hereís why.

First, itís important to understand that our primary focus now and for the past 50 years hasnít changed. Itís product quality and consistency, batch-to-batch, year-to-year, with the primary measure of that consistency being the unique Makerís Mark taste profile. Thatís all that truly matters in the end.

Since weíre a one-brand company thatís never purchased bourbon from other distillers when supplies are short, forecasting is very difficult. Over the years, our one variable that helps us avoid market shortages has been the age of the whisky in the Makerís bottle. That range is between five years nine months and seven years. Because Makerís Mark is aged to taste, Dad never put a specific age statement on the bottle. It wasnít the age that mattered; it was the taste, the quality and the consistency.

Some people are asking why we didnít just raise the price if demand is an issue. We donít want to price Makerís Mark out of reach. Dadís intention when he created this brand was to make good-tasting bourbon accessible and to bring more fans into the fold, not to make it exclusive. And, with regard to the price, the value of Makerís Mark isnít set by alcohol volume. Itís about the quality of the recipe and ingredients that go into it, all the handcrafting that goes into the production and how it tastes.

Some of you have questioned how we reduce the alcohol content. The fact is, other than barrel-strength bourbons, all bourbons are cut with water to achieve the desired proof for bottling. This is a natural step in the bourbon-making process. Makerís Mark has always been made this way and will continue to be made this way.

As we looked at potential solutions to address the shortage, we agreed again that the most important thing was whether it tastes the same. The distillery made up different batches that Rob and I tested every evening over the course of a month. Every batch at 42% ABV had the same taste profile that weíve always had. Then, we validated our own tastings with structured consumer research and the Tasting Panel at the distillery, who all agreed: thereís no difference in the taste.

For those of you who have questioned if the supply problem is real, I can assure you that it is. While not every part of the country has seen shortages yet, many have, and the demand is continuing to grow at a pace weíve never before experienced. While we are investing today to expand capacity for the future, by producing 42% ABV Makerís Mark weíll be able to better meet our ongoing supply issues without compromising the taste.

Ultimately, all I can ask is that you reserve judgment until you actually taste the whisky, like I did. If you can make it down to the distillery, weíre doing tastings every day with the 42% ABV whisky to give you a first-hand opportunity to try it for yourself. If you canít make it to the distillery, please give it a try when it gets to your city. And please write me back at that point. I want to hear what you think.

In the meantime, I canít thank you enough for taking the time to write. It shows that you care about Makerís Mark, and thatís what weíve been striving for over the past 50 years. I hope youíll give us the chance to continue earning that devotion and allow us to prove that we didnít screw up your whisky. All the best.

Sincerely,

Bill Samuels, Jr.
Chairman Emeritus
Ambassador-at-Large

You'd think that someone who makes a living making and selling whiskey would know how to properly spell it.